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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 1997)
3 Wednesday, November 5,1997 ELC meeting introduces new programs LAURA ARMSTRONG Staff Writer The Environmental Learning Center took time out on Oct. 25 to reap the rewards of this year’s work. The Harvest theme of the annual ELC meeting was a meta phor to the amount of time and accomplishments that the staff, volunteers and dedicated community harvested. An outstanding number of 40 people showed up for the annual meeting. During the meeting a new website for the ELC was un veiled as were the materials for a new self-guided tour through the ELC. The tour materials consist of pamphlets that have passages about numbered sites that coordinate with loca tions along the trails of the ELC. This offers a variety of benefits to anyone in the community who is curious about the nature of the trails. They can also travel the tour at their own pace. The Department Chairman of the ELC, John LeCavalier, is passionate about his mission to work with the college. He likes the partnership that the ELC has with the college and thinks that the two have functioned well together. A Citizens' Advisory Committee compiled many of the goals and topics for the meeting. The meeting, which took place in the Lakeside Hall, cov ered a variety of topics ranging from the ELC’s history, its mission, goals and the vital step of needing help from the com munity. Recognition and acknowledgments were made for active supporters of the ELC who not only dedicated their time and effort, but who continue to serve the ELC by bringing aware- Depression screening offers students assessment, counseling JERED BEZZANT Staff Writer. "Life sucks." "Leave me alone. I'm in a bad mood." "I can't take this anymore." "I am not having a good day." "I hate life." Sound familiar? It should. Ac cording to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 75 million Americans suffer from depression. Clackamas is not beating the odds. On Oct. 9 a depression screening took place on campus, led and spon sored by various mental health as sociations and psychiatrists. Ap proximately 40 students partici pated in the survey which included questions of personal reflection on life, hope, attitude, and physical condition. Of the 40 students about 25 were further evaluated by several council ors and psychiatrists on hand. Coun selor David Campbell said about 13 of them were referred with assess ment for further treatment to local psychiatrists, counselors, or doctors. He went on to say that these num bers were not unusual for the adult age group that averages a 50 to 60% depression rate. The NIMH stated that of this percentage only half seek treatment. "Many cannot afford it; options are limited without a health plan, and costs are extremely high," said Campbell. One example is the antidepressant drug Prozac that sells at an average cost of $2 per capsule. Patients may be pre scribed to take two or three every day. High depression equals high costs. Depression has become very wide spread in today's society of fierce com petition and changing morals. "In these times you have to be an op timist to open your eyes when you awake in the morning, said 20th century poet Carl Sandburg. Depression is a serious disorder that attacks mind and body at the same time persisting for a few months to years. Fa tigue, blue moods, emptiness, change in appetite and sleep, feeling of worthless ness and thoughts of suicide are only some of the symptoms of depression. Causes of depression may be associ ated with chemical imbalance in the brain, stress, illness, or for less obvious reasons. The National Mental Health Association reports two common sea sonal depressions. The first begin Sea sonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, which is cause by lack of sunlight particularly problematic during winter when the MARYLHURST COLLEGE ... Putting Education On The Line days are shorter and darker. SAD can be treated through phototherapy. Patients are seated three feet away from a fluorescent light 12 times brighter than an or dinary room, light, for timed ex posures. Another type is the "holiday blues", caused by stress, fatigue and unrealistic expectations that can come with the holiday season. The holiday blues and other de pression disorders require treat ments of psychotherapy, medication, and self help groups that counsel on ideas such as mak ing life more active and busy, serv ing others, and not clinging to the past. For the many who cannot afford such solutions, there is a suggested start. "Counselors are here to sup port," said Campbell, who with several other counselors offer and strongly invite students with prob lems at home or school, or are under the pressures of stress and burdens of daily life, to make an appointment in the Help Center. Counselors can meet with students for half hour or hour sessions de pending on the student’s situation, free of charge. ou cun now work toward a bachelor’s or master’s degree — including an MBA — via computer, anytime, anyplace. A world-class faculty is all lined up. Connect with us. Y MARYLHURST COLLEGE online-*- Volume XXXI, Issue 5 ness to the community. Of these people recognized for outstanding accomplish ments over the past year, Sha Spadey and James Dalton were noted for their immense participation in raising awareness and working for the Newell Creek Canyon. These two helped the ELC to work through the transition of the ELC becom ing an official department of the college. Those who continue to help with the ELC according to LeCavalier are Chuck Scott, Joyce Sanders, John Swigert, Larry Beutler, Leslie Winnop-Rapacki, Ken Cameron and the College Board. These membets of the staff have helped the ELC to function as a department and are continuously dedicating their time to bettering the ELC. Sandy Fox and Wayne Lei are active on the ELC board. They were active on the board during the time of the change over from the nonprofit supported ELC facility to the facil ity being an official department of the college. The goals of ELC are made clear in their mission state ment: "to provide innovative environmental education and demonstrate cooperative solutions to ecological challenges.” The goals and strategies of the ELC need continued active support from the community and college to be effective, LeCavalier said. A huge problem that the college has not fully acted upon is the water run-off situation. Sediment is streaming into the headwater of Newell Creek. The run-off is polluting the once clean waterways and the silt and sediment can be seen cloud ing the water. The potentially disastrous effects of this eco logical problem are not fully understood by the entire com munity. Meanwhile, as the problem persists, new strategies to stop the ever-flowing stream of silty water need to be imple mented. The goal to enact a solution to an ecological problem is very important to LeCavalier. “If we can’t protect the headwater of our learning institu tion I think there’s trouble...here’s an ecological problem which causes ecological damage. It’s new but it’s there. How do we balance that?” he said. Missing owl found near Barlow Hall ROBERT SHOENBERG Staff Writer Shadow, a Great Horned Owl, who had escaped from her cage at the Environmental Learning Center four weeks ago and flew into the trees surrounding the campus was dramatically recaptured last Friday, said Leslie Winnop- Rapacki, owner of Hawk Haven located at the Environ mental Learning Center. Handlers, who witnessed the escape, said she took off while her cage was being cleaned. Shadow is imprinted to human beings, which means that she depend's on them for food. She cannot survive on her own. The Great Horned Owl is the largest of the North American is Owls with a wing span of 60 difficult to inches and stands 20 to 25 inches tall. Shadow is characterized by see the long feather tufts over her ears daytime which gives her a homed appear of- ance. The rest of her feathers closely match the coloring of tree bark and works effectively as camouflage. camouflage. Shadow roosts near the trunks of trees during the day to avoid Crows. They will attack her. Leslie Shadow stayed in the grove of Winnop-Rapacki trees south of Barlow Hall. Hawk Haven “She is difficult to see in the day Owner time because of her camouflage, “ said Winnop-Rapacki, “but we can sometimes tell where she is by the behavior of the crows who will circle over her.” Handlers were in the grove with some food for Shadow, trying to and lure her out of the trees. They weren’t even sure she was still there. To their surprise, Shadow came gliding down silently behind them out of the branches and snatched the food held for her by Winnop-Rapacki. "She came from about 50 feet up in the trees and landed on my arm," said Winnop-Rapacki. She in because her 99 Wednesday, Novembers, 1997
